Protoman
by Kamen
Summary: A story based on the music by The Protomen, which is a band who's album is a Dark Rock Opera based on Protoman and Megaman.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own the band The Protomen, or own any of the characters. All characters belong to Capcom and the songs belong to The Protomen.

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Hope Rides Alone

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No one was left who could remember how it had happened,how the world had fallen under darkness.

At least no one who would do anything.

No one who would oppose the robots.

No one who would challenge their power,

or so Dr. Wily believed...

Dr. Light looked over his instruments, the instruments of mechanical magic that he would use with his own hands in order to start and finish his work. Many parts were scattered around his room, which was cloaked in darkness, just in case -they- came. 'They' being the robots that constantly moved around the city, monitoring each and every one of it's inhabitants, constantly making sure there were no humans who dared to defy the way of Dr. Wily.

Dr. Wily was a genius, but psychotic man. Years ago, he had built an army of robots and with his powerful machines, he easily took over everything. Everyone was to live the way he thought fit. Everyone was to be perfect in the image of Dr. Wily. No one had suspected, no one had seen it coming. They didn't know until the bloodshed began. The blood stained the streets, it stained the walls, the buildings, everything until every last human surrendered to his power. And now they live in denial, denial of what was going on. No one dared to challenge them, for they knew their soft flesh, their weak human bodies would never hold against the robots' power.

Twenty Floors above the dark streets of the city, Dr. Light lived in a run-down tenement.

An eccentric and brilliant man.

Light was a loner, a thinker, a man of ideas.

Ideas forbidden in Wily's society.

The society for which he worked.

The society in which he lived.

The society that he would set free.

With skill and precision, without any blueprints or plans, except for the ones in his head, Light set to work, connecting wires, welding together pieces of metal. No one could ever hear him, no one could ever see him. Yet no one would really care, for they didn't even know the man who stayed locked behind that door, only coming out for whatever food he could find. No, the humans wouldn't care to find out what he was building, and if they knew, they would not believe it could work. They wouldn't care, but the machines would. Wily would. So Light worked in the cover of darkness, never letting the ever-scanning eyes of the machines see what he was doing. For twelve years it went this way, for twelve years he slaved and worked..

And so Light worked, far into the night, when the watchful eyes of Wily's robots weren't upon him.

He'd set his skillful hands to the task of creating a device to bring about a change, to create a machine to bring freedom, to create a man to save the world.

The pieces had all finally come together, they had all finally created a shaped, the shape of a mechanical man, one smaller, yet hopefully stronger than all the ones he had created years before. Hopefully stronger than the ones that Wily used to terrorize and enslave the city. "Awake, my son.. Awake.. Protoman." Slowly, the eyes of the man now lying on the table opened.

Twelve years Light worked and on a cold night in the year 200X, Protoman was born.

A perfect man, an unbeatable machine, hell-bent on destroying every evil standing between man and freedom, built for one purpose, to destroy Wily's army of evil robots. Ready, willing, prepared to fight

"Father.." The first thing he saw was the smiling face of an unkempt old man, dressed in a white lab coat and black pants. He wore cracked glasses, that were worn from years of use. The man on the table was coated in thick, grey armor, and a mask covered his face. His eyes were white and almost seemed dead. His right hand, wasn't there at all. Instead it was a cannon-like machine. Attached to his left arm was a shield, stronger than most metals found on Earth. Light told his son of all that was happened, of all he had to do. Then he sent off his only son to war, sent him to free all of Man.

Cutman

Gutsman

Elecman

Bombman

Fireman

Iceman

Proto

Protoman had left by way of the roof. He stood on top, looking over the setting sun, the orange light filling the city and almost making it seem beautiful. His eyes scanned around him and then with a mighty leap into the air, he went over the edge of the building. Almost as soon as he landed, cracked the pavement beneath his feet, he was running, buildings rushing by him as he ran to face off against Dr. Wily and his army of robots.

Protoman now stood, facing countless robots. There were six prominent robots, the strongest of all the machines in Wily's armies. These six were like devils, their power so strong, so undeniably great. Not even Wily, who watched from the safety of his fortress, could believe that even one person would even dare try to stand against his mighty army. Yet, still he was confident. One man was not enough to destroy thousands of robots. One man was not enough to be a Hero. One man was not enough to save anyone.

The first of the six devil machines was Cutman, an almost shapeless yet humanoid being. His eyes were large and shined of white light. His deformed body looked underfed, his ribs showing through his skin. In one of his hands he held a long whip, capable of cutting through the human bone in one slice, capable of cutting through any metal. His head was shaped like a bullet, the only visible feature being his eyes, which were almost like headlights.

The next was Gutsman, a titan-like machine covered in heavy armor. His mask covered his head and shoulder and his face could not be seen through the hole in his mask, which was shaped like a hideous grin. His legs and arms were almost the largest of his limbs, the armor being hundreds of pounds heavy and inches thick. One blow of a fist could crumble a building.

Elecman was a demonic, humanoid machine, the skin on his body charred almost as black as the suit and tie he was wearing. The hat on his head shadowed his face. Only the white of his single eye and his decrepit teeth could be seen. Sparks and electricity sparked here and there from his body, almost making it seem as if he were to explode any second from all the charge in his body.

Bombman was almost as large as Gutsman, though armor only covered his torso. His arms and legs were very muscular. He had a supply of dynamite strapped to his waist. He almost seemed human, being one of the only ones to actually look human. The hair on his head was in a Mohawk and Indian warpaint covered his face. A serious look was ever-plastered on his face, showing how brave and how strong he really was.

Fireman was the other machine who almost seemed human. A red helmet with a black visor covered his head, hiding his facial features except for his mouth, which did not move, not a smile or a frown. His left hand was gloved in black and curled into a menacing fist, but that was not the most prominent feature of this red-and-black-armored man. In his right hand he had a sinister flamethrower, that could melt away almost anything.

Finally was Iceman, a skinny, yet muscular being, clothed in light-blue, thick clothing. His face was shadowed and covered by a furry Eskimo hood, showing only his eyes, which were much like Cutman's. His hands were long and skinny and his fingers ended in a sharp point. He could move fluently, and a chill followed wherever he went. It was hard to believe that these machines were once built to help humanity, hard to believe that these once-good machines had been easily manipulated and now helped Dr. WIly.

Fireman: Attack!

The battle began. Protoman had been the first to move; his eyes surging with the fury that was rising within him. He put up all the resistance he could, shredding through the lesser robots. But it wasn't long before things began to go wrong, just as many of the humans gathered, gathered to see what the commotion was. Gutsman was temporarily put out by a blast from Protoman's powerful Blaster. But then Iceman had frozen Protoman to the very ground on which he stood.

Then Fireman, taking advantage of the Hero's frozen state, began to burn away at him, only to find out that Protoman's shield easily withstood the blazing attack. Then Bombman, with one mighty swing, one mighty throw, sent a dynamite stick Protoman's way. Protoman knew he couldn't dodge in time, so he made to catch it, perhaps hoping to throw it back. But it backfired. The dynamite detonated as soon as he'd caught it. The blast was great, it kicked up dust and filled the air with black smoke.

And as the smoke cleared.

Wiley rose above the countless robots remaining. Protoman was wounded, low on energy, struggling to remain standing as Wily ordered the final attack.

The death of Protoman.

Dr. Light pushed his way through the crowd that had gathered around the battle. By the time he'd gotten to the front, what he saw struck him with horror. Protoman was being ripped apart piece by piece. Yet still Protoman tried to fight back, tried to fight for the people, tried to fight for their freedom. And yet all his efforts were for nothing, all of them wasted. All that was left was the mask of their Hero. The mask of the Hero of Man. The mask of Protoman.

The crowd had gathered there to watch him fall, to watch their hopes destroyed.

They watched them beat him, they watched them break him, they watched his last defense deployed.

There was not a man among them who would let himself be heard.

But from the crowd, from the collective fear, arose these broken words:

We are the dead

We are the dead

As the chanting of Man vocalized, the robots slowly dispersed. Dr Light moved forward, hesitantly at first. Then he was next to the steel Mask on the ground. Dr Light grabbed a large rock from nearby and jammed it onto the ground. Using a metal tool in his pocket, he wrote 'Here Lies Protoman' and put the mask at the foot of the makeshift grave, the grave of their hero who had died in battle. The humans then began leaving, still chanting their song, still chanting the only words that came to their minds. It echoed into the night, spreading all across the world. We are the Dead.

Human Choir: What have we done?

Narrator: We are the dead

Human Choir: What will we do?

Narrator: We are the dead

Human Choir: Where will we turn?

Narrator: We are the dead

Human Choir: Is there nothing we can do?

Narrator: We are the dead

Human Choir: How did it come to this?

Narrator: We are the dead

Human Choir: How did we go so wrong?

Narrator: We are the dead

Human Choir: We are the dead


	2. Chapter 2

Funeral For A Son

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His blood was boiling. Sweat, tears, blood. All of these things were part of a real human.. Was he the only real human left? He had been the only one to shed the second of those three. The only one to weep for his son. And yet.. his son.. He had neither of those three. Protoman... Protoman did not sweat when he was tired, working out in a hot sun. Protoman did not shed tears to mourn the loss of another. Protoman did not bleed when his artificial skin was pierced. Protoman was not human.. so why did he cry so? Why did he cry for this monstrosity that had been the last hope for humans? Why?.. Because he was a father.. A father who had lost the only thing he could have called 'son'.

"Why be a human, when we can be so easily broken?" Light stood at his workdesk, the many blueprints for the Prototype Man laying scattered everywhere. Tears were falling, dampening the pages, making them nothing but a wet pile of papers. "Why even live?!" With anger, the desk was toppled, all the pages scattering on the floor along with many of the tools he used to work. "What is the point?! I built.. the perfect man.. But even perfection could not stand up to Wily. I rue the day I agreed to work with him." Oh yes.. even this feeble old man remembered the past, the many decades ago that he and Wily had worked together to make the perfect race of machines. The perfect solution to all of mankinds problems...

[i Light smiled and firmly shook the hand of the man he was now proud to call his partner. His friend. Together they were to accomplish the impossible. Create the perfect robots to aid mankind. Soon, many a week had passed while the two worked endlessly, straining themselves to their limits. Over that time, Light had become a bit uneasy around his partner, whom he referred to as Wily. He spoke of how the military could benefit. How their country could rule over every inch of the Earth with their army. Light expressed his concerns but their relationship did not wither. They still worked and one day a robot was born. One that could provide an endless supply of electric energy to power the country. He was dubbed Elecman. Soon came another. Cutman, designed to help clear forests. Fireman, designed for trash incineration. Iceman, for exploration of the deep artic. Bombman, to help in building demolition. Gutsman to help in construction.. but it wasn't long.. before these robots would turn on their masters.. Both of their creators.. all of the humans except for one. The one that they soon crowned as their commander. The man who had helped to build them and even added his own designs.. Doctor Albert W. Wily.[/i

"My work.. it's meaningless. It was -my- work that started this!" Angrily, Light began to smash his equipment, punching, smashing, stomping, anything he could to destroy it. Many pieces of equipment, large or small all began to form a pile in the middle of the room, all of the smashed pieces now laying in rubble. Wires connected, metal mashed together, slowly the trash began to take shape. Throughout the day, all could hear the angry ramblings, the angry noises that floated from the rundown tenmant that Light resided in until at last, the pile of trash, the heap of junk had taken shape, had been built anew. One word was uttered. "Father.."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Unrest in the House of Light

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It was years that passed. It was years that it took for things to change. Dr Wily continued his reign of evil, continued the carnage. Dr Light did the only thing that he could. He raised Megaman. Took care of him as his own son. He gave Megaman the freedom he had not given to Protoman. He cared for him and every night at bed time, he would tell him the same story. Of his brother who fought, who died, who stood against all odds, but was struck down by Dr Wily. He had temporarily given mankind hope. But again.. it was years that passed. Years that took for things to change. And it changed with the same bed time story, with a different beginning. Once Megaman was old enough, Dr Light beckoned the young robot into his workshop, a solemn look on his face.

You have heard me tell this story

Many times before you sleep

This time listen carefully

Megaman looked at his father, a look of both worry and curiousity upon his young features. Slowly he sat down in the nearest chair, his eyes fixed upon the old man he called his father.

And I will tell you once again

But this time understand that what I'm telling you.

Every single word is true.

You need to know.

There was another who came before you

He was a hero and your brother and my son.

He fought the darkness, the darkness won.

And he fought bravely, and he died bravely

But he was forsaken by the ones he wished to save.

And when he died he died in vain.

You need to know.

You are not him.

That time is coming, and I must warn you

That though it's something that you may not understand

They can be saved by just one man.

And I am sorry, cause I was wrong

And I'd take away the weight his shoulders had to bear.

Cause when he fell I was the only one who cared.

"But father," the young one interrupted. "You say they can be saved by one.. I can be that one.. I am your son and his brother, I can fight! I can be just like Protoman, but I can win.. I know I can."

You need to know.

You are not him.

This fight's not yours.

That story's finished. That story's ended.

Understand there's no more that we can do.

And I will not risk losing you.

For if you leave now, you will be fighting

for a people that refuse to comprehend

They have chosen their own end.

So you will stay here. You will obey me.

And I will keep grieving for the son I sent to death.

You are the only thing I have left.

"But father please.."

You need to know.

You are not him.

This fight's not yours.

You cannot win.

Megaman, as sad as he was to feel this way, was a bit irritated with his own father. He wanted to fight, but his father was being stubborn. Being young and confident, Megaman -knew- that he could win. He could be the one to save mankind, he could be the one to overcome Dr Wily once and for all. Just then, Megaman made a decision and he chose his next words carefully...


	4. Chapter 4

The Will of One

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I have seen this city a thousand times. Through the glass twenty stories high,

I have watched this city burn. If everything that you said is true,

there is no hope someday they will learn. But if I stay here with you, then I will never know the truth

Light looked at his son, sorrow filling his eyes as he spoke,

Do not say, this is how it has to be...

Megaman only shook his head a bit. "My mind is made up, father. I'm going.. Whether you like it or not!!!" Dr Light was surprised. His son had never raised his voice to him, yet now here he was, defying him. It only took seconds for Megaman to escape to the roof. Slowly he looked down upon the city from the top of the apartment building he called home. Then in one swift movement, he was rushing down the side of the wall and then down the street. He looked at everyone carefully as he ran, studying them. They seemed.. afraid of him. Of course, he was familiar. Reminiscent of someone from long ago.. Megaman heard his father speak in his helmet through the radio. "Megaman.. Why do you do this?.." "Because, father.. I believe that they can and will be saved. They want to be saved, they want to fight back.. but..."

But as I walk through the city streets, these frightened people watching me pass;

there is an evil that holds them here, and yet they won't try breaking its grasp.

But if I stay here with you, then I will leave them to their doom.

Dr Light: Do not say this is how it has to be.

You do no better than the fools of this burning city.

Megaman stopped. He had come to a clearing in the concrete jungle. And in the middle of that clearing was a gravestone with a familiar helmet lying on the ground in front of it. Slowly the young machine approached the gravestone and knelt down. "Here lies Protoman," Megaman read aloud. "My brother.." Then he noticed something.. Something that had been carved crudely into the stone. Slowly he looked around him, as if looking for the culprit, but what he saw were many humans slowly coming towards him, studying him, watching him, a bit of hope filling his eyes. He heard Dr Light again, repeating his words from earlier.

You have heard me tell this story

Many times before you sleep

No matter how dark

Even now, there's hope for man

"What do you see upon that gravestone my son?.." Megaman hesitated before saying,

Even here it is not safe

Even this grave has been defaced

Someone has written on this stone

In some angry hand

Hope rides alone.

Hope rides alone.

Hope rides alone.

These sad words seemed to echo throughout the city. The silent crowd still watched the young machine hopefully. They wanted him to be their savior. He was so similar to his brother, yet maybe.. Maybe he could be the one. Megaman stood, turning to the crowd, his eyes and face filled with uncertainty. Could he really be the one to save them? He was almost.. scared.. But.. this was something that had to be done. This was inevitable to happen. He would be the ones to save mankind from the grips of Dr Wily.. He would be the one to avenge his brother. Megaman whispered to himself, repeating the words of his father..

Do not say this is how it has to be You do no better than the fools of this burning city.

Then he growled a bit. Those words were untrue. He could do much better. He had the power, he could be the one to take down the army of Dr Wily and then Dr Wily himself. He turned to the crowd and raised his voice, shouting to them, shouting to the heavens.

And as I live

There is no evil that will stand

I will finish

What was started: The fight of Protoman!

The crowd cheered and Megaman rushed onwards, filled with new confidence, filled with new power. He could hear the loudspeakers that occupied the corner of every street, pounding out the same words to the citizens.

We have control

We keep you safe

We are your hope.

We have control

We keep you safe

We are your hope

But the words of the humans were beginning to drown them out. They too were filled with a new confidence, with a new hope. They finally believed that they would really be saved, so they chanted their song together, letting the sound vibrate throughout the entire city, alerting everyone, even Dr Wily of their presence. It was immediate. The armies were set out, every single robot in his arsenal deployed to stop this one machine. Megaman stood, looking over the sea of robots, and deep inside right there at Wily's fortress, he saw his target. The one who commanded the army. Megaman soaked in the chants of the humans, the ones who were urging him onward with their song.

We have control

We keep you safe

We are your hope

We are in control!


End file.
